Hauptturnier literary controversy
Will the chaos on the junior circuit ever cease? Paul posted the following:
A controversy has arisen at the Hauptturnier. It revolves around the meaning and usage of "Hauptturnier." An ex-participant in the tournament (who is well-versed in German) has informed me that Hauptturnier means "main tournament". This would put the championship itself in a subordinate position. My response was to point out that the great international tournament of New York, 1924 had a simultaneous Hauptturnier with players of lesser stature. This would seem to indicate that a Hauptturnier was a tournament held alongside a higher level invitational tournament. Would anyone be able to shed any light on this subject?
posted by David Glickman @ 11:23 AM
4 Comments:
Paul,
I don't know the answer for sure; but if I were to speculate, I would guess that "main" is being used in the context of "open", "for the masses", "the proletarian event", etc.
David
I googled Hauptturnier and it seems to be a term for a major tournament but below the level of national or international championships. One citation contrasts Hauptturnier with the meisterturnier. Another refers to the hauptturnier as a tournament (among other minor tournaments) played alongside a meistertournament or championship. It seems in Germany one became a master by winning a hauptturnier.
1908 1st Hauptturnier, German major tourney
http://www.logicalchess.com/info/history/1900-1930.html
Siegbert Tarrasch
His first attempt in a Hauptturnier (a chess tournament in which only the winner gets the title of master) failed in 1882 in Berlin. He left Berlin and transferred to Halle to concentrate on his studies.
In 1883 he won first prize at the Hauptturneier at Nuremberg and the tile of German Master.
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/tarrasch.htm
His first attempt in a "Hauptturnier", to become chess master (only the winner gets the title of master), failed in 1882. In 1883, however, he won first prize at the Hauptturnier at Nuremberg and the title of Master in scintillating style.
http://www.starfireproject.com/chess/tarrasch.html
PM-17 Beninmas and Löwys
In the Main Tournament A (Hauptturnier A) of Barmen 1905 - won jointly by Rubinstein and Duras - a Dutch player named BENIMA finished with 3,5 points (out of 15). On p. 560 of the excellent tournament book one can find the adress of "F." Benima (Hoogstraat 250, Rotterdam). The index on p. 613 gives "Fred." Benima. Gaige's Chess Personalia (p. 32) mentions only "Levi" Benima (1837 - Feb 1922, died in Amsterdam). Now my question: Are these two Benimas one and the same person - then Benima would have been 68 years old in Barmen 1905 - or are they different players? Maybe Fred. is a son of Levi?! The available game collections of Rubinstein (e.g. Donaldson & Minev) simply give "Benima". In the online database of Chess Base (and in Megabase) there are two Benimas: Levi with games of a tournament in
1884 and Fred (born 1880 according to Chess Base) with games of the Barmen tournament.
http://www.chesshistory.com/ResearchCenter/PuzzlesAndMysteries/PuzzlesPage2.htm
The chess club Augustea of Leipzig celebrated their 40th anniversary
that year, December 2-8, with one 'meisterturnier' and one 'hauptturnier'. http://www.avlerchess.com/chess-misc/Capablanca_consultation_game_173179.html
Because of their great effort to make the championship tournament a suc-cess, the Nuremberg committee did not want to assume responsi-bility for holding the Hauptturnier and the other minor tournaments, which were customarily the ad-junct of the biennial champion-ships. http://www.niggemann.com/detail/buecher/6041.html
Regarding Paul's note about Bill MacLellan's having suggested that 'players in the Hauptturnier simply wish to "bask in the glow of the masters..."', I suggest that maybe they just like to absorb some of the rating points given off by the glow of the masters. ;-)
I'd be there absorbing some of those if my schedule allowed it....
as I understand it, 'hauptturnier' is best translated
as 'leading tournament'--originally it was a qualifier
for important tournaments, in which local masters were
chosen to play in the 'big one' (RLF)
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